Beds and bed frames constructed for home, nursing and hospital healthcare environments provide for articulation of the frame to tilt one or more sections for the patient's comfort and/or care. With the push of a button or lever, the back section can be made to tilt between a completely flat, reclined position and a forward, inclined position, or one or more leg sections may be made to bend or tilt between a generally flat and horizontal position and a drawn-up, bent position. More particularly, since most beds are positioned against a wall, some beds have back sections that hug the wall when inclined (raised), which provides additional space at the foot end. This also allows patients to stay within reach of bed side cabinets. To accomplish this, the existing designs of such bed frames typically comprise multiple sliding frames that retract with pivoting linkages that are heavy and costly to manufacture. In addition, the movement of such members may define a path that is larger than the underlying mattress footprint, which thus takes up more space unnecessarily.
What is desired is a bed frame that is lighter, cheaper to manufacture, has a smaller operating footprint, and still hugs the wall when inclined.